I [finally] had our baby girl on November 18, whom I will call Noelle on my blog (she was supposed to be born closer to Christmas!) It was convenient to have her then, as I went into labor while at a checkup on the 17th. I was sent from the clinic to the birthing center, and spent the next 25 hours in labor only to push once and see her tiny little 4#13oz self thrashing around.
Because she was premature (35 weeks and 6 days) she spent just over a week in the NICU. Talk about stressful times. Four days after her birth, we all caught the stomach flu...while I went back to pre-baby size in a matter of hours, it was not ideal in the least. For two days, we could not go to the NICU to visit Noelle, and I ended up bringing Harvey to the ER for dehydration and a fever nearing 102. We spent Thanksgiving Day in the pediatrics ward, and finally went to my parents' home.
Noelle came home that following Saturday, and the kids and I stayed at my parents' for a few days until the snow storms halted enough for me to make the trip to our home.
Noelle was baptized on December 12, and we had a lovely afternoon visiting with friends and family who came to celebrate.
Christmas came and went, and we spent that again at my parents' home with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings. It was quite enjoyable!
My best friend came and babysat so John and I could go out on a date. It was the first time I left the kids with a babysitter who was not family. Slight panic attack, but all went well! Harvey went down to bed without a sound. Amazing.
January has been rough, as John is working 50+ hours a week. I've had some breakdowns, but that's to be expected, right?
To be completely honest, these past two months (Noelle is seriously two months old already!?) have flown by, and are a huge blur. Harvey is so well behaved with his sister, and although we have moments when he's crying, she's crying, I'm trying to feed them both, it's been exhilarating and, naturally, exhausting.
